The relationship between college class and cigarette smoking

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between college class and cigarette‐smoking behavior in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) data were employed. Five binary and two cumulative logit equations are estimated to explore the impact of college class on: having ever tried smoking cigarettes; having smoked in the past 30 days; having ever smoked on a daily basis; whether the student currently smoked daily; whether the student had quit entirely, that is, had not smoked for the past 30 days; the number of days smoked per month; and the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Findings

The paper finds that second‐year students were more likely than other undergraduates to be current cigarette smokers. Among current smokers, first‐ and second‐year students smoked the most days per month and second‐year students smoked the most cigarettes per day. Of students who had ever smoked on a daily basis, third‐year students were least likely to have quit and fourth‐year students were most likely.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that since the NCHRBS was conducted only in 1995, there is no follow‐up data to determine whether the patterns have continued. It is also more difficult to disentangle college class effects from cohort and period effects.

Originality/value

This paper shows heterogeneity in college smoking and encourages efforts to better target anti‐smoking activities for greater effectiveness.

Citation

Leppel, K. (2007), "The relationship between college class and cigarette smoking", Health Education, Vol. 107 No. 1, pp. 63-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/09654280710716888